Mining firm Bushveld Minerals signed a deal, via its Greenhills Resources subsidiary, to acquire a 49% stake in Dawnmin Africa Investments, which owns 85% of the Uis tin mine, in Namibia. Under the agreement, Greenghills is to conduct due diligence on the project. If conclusive, the firm will acquire the 49% interest for about 41 million ordinary shares of Bushveld Minerals. The acquisition is...

Morocco plans to issue sukuks before the end of the first half of 2017, minister of economy and finance, Mohamed Boussaid announced on December 8, highlighting that the operation is part of a program to establish the appropriate environment for upcoming Islamic banks in the kingdom. “The new financial instruments should contribute to the growth of the participative bank by, depending on the...

Private equity firm LeapFrog Investments plans to raise $800 million for its third Africa-focused fund dedicated to financial services, Bloomberg reported on December 13, citing one the firm’s officials. “Overseas Private Investment Corp., the Washington-based development financing unit of the U.S. government, has approved an investment of as much as $200 million in the fund, the...

MTN has officially launched 4G in Congo on December 10, 2016. The Congolese people now have access to the fast internet technology which gives access to value-added services. Prime Minister, Mr. Clement Mouamba, was the one to launch the technology in Brazzaville, the capital. Commenting the launch, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunication, Léon Juste Ibombo, said it results from the full...

The Algerian government is looking at opening subsidiaries for State-owned banks abroad, in Africa especially, the minister of finance, Hadji Baba Ammi, announced on December 3. “The ministry is conducting a study to open subsidiaries for Algerian banks abroad, in African countries especially,” the official told the press at the African investment and business forum. “This mostly...

Italian Eni’s floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, Armada Olombendo, has arrived and received at its final destination on Block 15/06 offshore Angola. This vessel was constructed by Keppel’s shipyard in Singapore and leased to the Eni who named the FPSO built to operate offshore Angola for the East Hub Development Project, in mid-October this year. According to a...

Eni and Algeria's state oil company Sonatrach, have signed an agreement whereby the Italian company will import 20% of Italy's natural gas needs from Algeria. The Italian company this year, imported 9.8 billion cubic meters of Algerian natural gas, which represent 16% of the Italian demand. Claudio Descalzi (photo), CEO of Eni, stressed that the agreement was concluded on the basis of...

Nigeria is to issue new oil exploration licences as it struggles to find new ways of generating revenues to fund the 2017 budget, Budget and National Planning Minister, Udoma Udo Udoma (photo), revealed. According to him, the Federal Government would also evaluate the current joint venture arrangements with oil companies, development of marginal oil fields and also put pressure on...

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has signed a deal with local petroleum giant, Sakunda Holdings, for the importation and supply of fuel in the country. Under the deal, which became effective at the beginning of this month, Sakunda is to supply the country with 160 million litres of fuel in order to ensure adequate supplies during the Christmas season. The deal was struck under an organized...

BP Angola has announced that the Grande Plutonio production field in Block 18 offshore Angola has achieved a new production milestone of 500 million barrels of oil. The field, with an estimated gross production of 160,000 barrels of oil per day, is shared equally by Sonangol Sinopec International and BP Angola. Grande Plutonio is 310 metres long and has a storage capacity of 1.77 million...